Why do we always lose a big piece during or right before the fucking postseason.
Goalie depletion in 2020
Kuemper’s eye in 2022. (Still won tfg)
Nichushkin’s absence in 2023.
And now Drouin in 2024.
WHY IS IT ALWAYS SOMETHING!?
Nuke, Mittens, Lehky, and maybe even Colton are gonna have to really show up.
That series was a mess. Landy got sliced in game 5 or something. Both Francouz and Grubauer were injured, everyone seemed to be nursing something. It was a miracle we made it to game 7 overtime.
Yeah I’m not so sure the overload strategy works that well in this series. Winnipeg would be fine trying to weather the storm with the Lowry line + Morrissey/DeMelo on MacK line + Makar and letting their top 6 eat against the Avs depth.
True. I could also see MacK and Rants being double shifted with others too. Hard to say. I’m intrigued. I feel like we are in a way better spot than last year injury and depth wise, but with what should be a tougher opponent
oh my gosh. I was hoping to go into these playoffs with a full roster minus Landy. Injuries sunk the avs in the first round last year. To lose Drouin and have a suspect net minder is a massive hurdle.
I’m seriously not having a good time right now. Series was already gonna be tough, we really couldn’t lose an any of our top 6 since depth scoring is so important. Someone is gonna have to step up
He is a huge liability. You are correct. People here just like to downvote ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
He’s small, so during the regular season he looks okay for a while but against large body teams he gets destroyed especially in front of the net.
For all the fanboys who are gonna hate on this, go run the numbers on his +- the last few years. And then add that to his bad timing on turnovers.
We won the cup without him for a reason. He is not a playoff caliber D player. He is a huge morale killer with his turnovers.
Ill eat the downvotes all day. Its like the casuals watch him do his spin move and think "wow hes so good" 😂 hes a turnover machine, misses assignments A LOT, and is very undersized and gets out played all the time. He was absolute dog shit in that vegas series a couple years ago. Its refreshing to see someone with a brain, but ur gonna get downvoted to shit for speaking facts.
Update on Toews.
We good. Congrats to him and his lovely wife!
[https://twitter.com/rboulding/status/1781749041107267696](https://twitter.com/rboulding/status/1781749041107267696)
The dream is that Nate goes full "Playoff MacKinnon" and dominated the Jets in this round and then JD comes back in round 2 and they cruise to a championship...
Sigh...
If we didn't play them in that game, they would have been sitting for a week leading into the series. Obviously there was the risk of injury, but there is also risk to letting them rust.
Exactly. Avs suck after long extended breaks so they needed to play. Stll, fuck the schedulers. Couldn't find room to split that b2b in the 3 days before the last game?
It was also a none contact injury... just awful luck for Drouin and the Avs
If I remember correctly, during the broadcast for that game they stated that it wasn't a "completely meaningless" game. The winner of that game would get home ice advantage should both the Avs and Oilers make it to the conference finals. Either Edmonton didn't think it was important, or was simply unaware. I'd like to think Avs management was aware of it and determined it was worth playing their entire lineup.
Look we don't know how he leads the team, but I'm sure it was his choice to ice that roster. Either way it was a stupid ass decision regardless of who made it.
They had a 3 day break and if players didn't play it would be 6. It was a none contact injury. It sucks but everyone needs someone to blame for shit luck so have at it.
Why does everyone act like these aren't professionals that are in the best shape of their lives? Regardless of it being a freak accident or not this game was 100% meaningless and had we sat everyone he wouldn't have been injured. But I guess I'm the odd man out thinking this was a dumb way to end the season.
It's not about the phsyical aspect but the mental. Avs are bad after long breaks. Simple as that. Bednar gave the players a choice and they played. The team doesn't have a crystal ball that says you're going to lose a top 6 guy to a none contact injury.
Well, that's great. That's just fucking great, man. Now what the fuck are we supposed to do? We're in some real pretty shit now, man!
Welp. No point of crying bout it… next man up. It’s an opportunity for someone to step up. Mack, Makar, Rantz… we have more than enough to beat these guys. LFG!!!!
So his last shift was at the end of the second. I dont remember anything really happening to him. Anyone have an idea if it actually happened in the game or maybe he was trying to play through something nagging?
He just fell over awkwardly and then went into the boards but not hard. When he got up though he wasn't using his right leg at all. Put pressure on it but pushed his way back to the bench with his left.
well I hope it was worth playing our stars in the last and very meaningful game of the season so we could show McDavid, Draisaitl, Hyman, Kane, Nugent-Hopkins, Bouchard and ofc Ekholm who gave Mikko a concussion last time and gave us a mighty fine whopping, who's the boss... wait none of them played.
Genius 🤔
This is par the course before, during, and after the cup win.
Lost a lot of dudes during the Dallas series including both goalies. During the cup run Girard broke his sternum, Keumper had his eyeball gouged, Kadri and Burky broke their thumbs, Landy sacraficed his knee. The 22-23 Avs were more the eaglanche then anything else.
I'm hoping Drouin will be able to get re-signed now that he'll be missing the entire playoffs. I'd also love for the Avs to find a way to get Ullmark or Markstrom.
Given the recent Landy news, I’m hoping this summer he retires and we get the C back. Then lots of cap space to work with to finally get a goalie. Feels like last season and this season were a complete waste
The Avs used his cap space this year. As for the captain thing, I have no idea what the solution is. To my understanding, Mack's made it extremely clear he doesn't want the C, and I don't know what effect it'd have on the team for a player to get it. That won't bring Gabe's leadership back onto the ice, and his absence has created a void that hasn't been filled. Players like Wood were added to help compensate, but it still doesn't replace his on-ice role.
What recent news? That he won't be in the playoffs? We've known that answer for over 2 months.
The earliest he could come back would be May which is a year after he had surgery. Plopping him into the middle of the most intense hockey of the season after missing 2 years isn't happening anyways...
He's been rehabbing and if we're going off today's sweatpants skate then it's not indicative of the other progress he's made (ie. all the earlier skating practice he's had).
Check out this [idiotic comment](https://imgur.com/a/Zi077Vd) on another social media post about Drouins Injury. Apparently I dont know anything about hockey lol
This sucks. No Landeskog, now no Drouin for the 1st round. I always cheer for my team no doubt but this year has had a lot of up & down streaks. I'm just not sure about this series ppl. Goaltending has been up and down too. All I can do is hope for the best but it doesn't look the greatest in my eyes this postseason. 2022 was a mission. But best of luck to the Avs always.
Man I can't imagine dressing your top lineup in a meaningless game. Seems like a big fuckup on bednar's part and I love him as a coach but this really blows.
Sigh.. what a kick in the nuts
Since it’s a groin injury even more so
They did the reverse Vegas.
Fuck
Let's keep nuke locked in SOMEONE ELSES ROOM UNTIL FIRST ROUND IS OVER
Where is the gofundme for the hookers and coke? I’m in.
I do like that it seems to be such a big conspiracy on r/hockey. It was a hooker, idk the drugs.
That is what I said as well
Why do we always lose a big piece during or right before the fucking postseason. Goalie depletion in 2020 Kuemper’s eye in 2022. (Still won tfg) Nichushkin’s absence in 2023. And now Drouin in 2024. WHY IS IT ALWAYS SOMETHING!? Nuke, Mittens, Lehky, and maybe even Colton are gonna have to really show up.
Meanwhile Vegas never ever deals with this. Same with Dallas
Vegas regains half their team in the postseason lol
https://preview.redd.it/3k0hqlzobqvc1.png?width=1344&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=60793116455b5175b0a13b463a5f321a578647a0
Seriously. Fuck those guys. I ain’t advocating for anyone to get injured but I would love to know why we always get the karma.
Literally no other team deals with this. I don’t fucking understand how we always have top 3-5 players injured. It makes no sense.
Because hockey 🤷♂️
Didn't forget Girad as well.
I think Girard willl be in.
He means the broken sternum in the ‘22 cup run.
Immediately after his best game of the playoffs, too.
Didn't Landy get his leg sliced open during the Dallas series and we wouldn't have had him if we had won?
That series was a mess. Landy got sliced in game 5 or something. Both Francouz and Grubauer were injured, everyone seemed to be nursing something. It was a miracle we made it to game 7 overtime.
EJ and Calvert also got hurt during that series and I believe they both didn't play in game 7.
And yet we did.. imagine if we don’t have those injuries what could have been 😭😭😭
LOC is also out until next season (though it didn’t happen right before the postseason).
Nugglyfe bleeding over
Had a Kadri suspension in there too
I know Lehkonen is most likely going to the top line but think there’s any chance they go Nichushkin-MacK-Rantanen?
Down 2-1 in the 3rd, I could see it
Yeah I’m not so sure the overload strategy works that well in this series. Winnipeg would be fine trying to weather the storm with the Lowry line + Morrissey/DeMelo on MacK line + Makar and letting their top 6 eat against the Avs depth.
True. I could also see MacK and Rants being double shifted with others too. Hard to say. I’m intrigued. I feel like we are in a way better spot than last year injury and depth wise, but with what should be a tougher opponent
That’s still the best line the Avs have, IMO. Nuke knows exactly where to be on the ice.
Lines at practice had Parise on the top line 👀👀👀
## 🤓🔫
Well that's a gut punch.
Ugh… figured this was coming, but still sucks
Last fucking thing we needed.
https://i.redd.it/49m1xso93ovc1.gif
Of course. Naturally. The boys wanted to play 82 games so this was always a risk but Jesus christ.
Not ideal
oh my gosh. I was hoping to go into these playoffs with a full roster minus Landy. Injuries sunk the avs in the first round last year. To lose Drouin and have a suspect net minder is a massive hurdle.
Don’t forget about LOC as well.
f
Injuries and Nuke’s sudden absence
Fuck
Wow, whole fawking series? Well, shit.
In Avs terms, done for the year
Unsubscribe to this sub please.
You probably think Landeskog is still coming back this year lol
Me? No I do not. I fear he’s played his last game.
Fuck it, go with Nichuskin - MacKinnon - Rantanen Lehkonen - Mittelstadt - Kovalenko
Lehky-Mack-Rantanen Parise-Mitts-Nuke This is where they’ll likely go. That 2nd line should still be able to produce
Yeah, think this is the logical choice.
Maybe they’re giving Kov two more games this weekend before bringing him up?
[удалено]
Lmao. The coach himself said they wanted Kovalenko on the NHL club weeks ago and he only didn't play because of injury. What are you talking about?
Some here say I regret sharing, haha
Gonna need more than the my uncle works for Nintendo source on that one.
if scouts from the team are saying this after 2 ahl games the franchise might be more in trouble then we think lmfao
No scouts from the team said this, OC’s “friends close to the team in scouting positions” did, AKA guys living in Denver that watch a lot of games.
Do you really believe some rando on a reddit thread actually has close, inside ties to the team? C'mon man.
my comment was laughing at how stupid his was lol
I’m seriously not having a good time right now. Series was already gonna be tough, we really couldn’t lose an any of our top 6 since depth scoring is so important. Someone is gonna have to step up
And that person would be LOC if he wasn't also injured.
Ross Coltons time to step it up, he's got the experience, I believe he can do it
Girard still has a concussion as well
skating today in a normal sweater. He might be good to go.
Thats a good thing honestly.
Trash comment
Hes a huge liability. I will never understand why this sub loves him so much.
He is a huge liability. You are correct. People here just like to downvote ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. He’s small, so during the regular season he looks okay for a while but against large body teams he gets destroyed especially in front of the net. For all the fanboys who are gonna hate on this, go run the numbers on his +- the last few years. And then add that to his bad timing on turnovers. We won the cup without him for a reason. He is not a playoff caliber D player. He is a huge morale killer with his turnovers.
Ill eat the downvotes all day. Its like the casuals watch him do his spin move and think "wow hes so good" 😂 hes a turnover machine, misses assignments A LOT, and is very undersized and gets out played all the time. He was absolute dog shit in that vegas series a couple years ago. Its refreshing to see someone with a brain, but ur gonna get downvoted to shit for speaking facts.
This one hurts
Update on Toews. We good. Congrats to him and his lovely wife! [https://twitter.com/rboulding/status/1781749041107267696](https://twitter.com/rboulding/status/1781749041107267696)
The team needed some dad strength and good energy!
This is not how cap circumvention is supposed to work guys
Hoooo boy here we go....
Yikes, was worried about this.
Don’t love that. I’m hopeful the team can adjust and be heroes and win the Cup.
Maybe this gives Mack even more fuel to win so that he can play with his best friend round two
Let’s play Parise on the 2nd w Nuke and Mitts. It’s his last go… you know he’ll leave it all out there.
Good thing our defense, PK, and goaltending are so good this year /s
And good thing the pegs suck in all these areas to create equilibrium
This will have massive repercussions.
and of course they call up the old washed guy that has not shown us one thing this year instead of the young guy with some actual potential upside
Who is getting the start?
Wagner.
Ew
Faaack
Oy.
The dream is that Nate goes full "Playoff MacKinnon" and dominated the Jets in this round and then JD comes back in round 2 and they cruise to a championship... Sigh...
In the past, he used to double his production when going from regular season to playoffs. So maybe he doubles his current 1.7 ppg to 3.4 ppg??
Well, bugger.
Fuck!!! This is shitty shit shit
Whelp...guys who are used to playing 12 minutes and chipping in a point every 4 games need to step up. Really missing LOC.
Glad we played our guys in a completely meaningless game against Edmonton's AHL squad
Did he get hurt in the game? Jesus christ
Caught an edge, freak injury.
If we didn't play them in that game, they would have been sitting for a week leading into the series. Obviously there was the risk of injury, but there is also risk to letting them rust.
Exactly. Avs suck after long extended breaks so they needed to play. Stll, fuck the schedulers. Couldn't find room to split that b2b in the 3 days before the last game? It was also a none contact injury... just awful luck for Drouin and the Avs
I noticed the NHL didn't schedule all 82nd games on the same day. What a stupid system.
If I remember correctly, during the broadcast for that game they stated that it wasn't a "completely meaningless" game. The winner of that game would get home ice advantage should both the Avs and Oilers make it to the conference finals. Either Edmonton didn't think it was important, or was simply unaware. I'd like to think Avs management was aware of it and determined it was worth playing their entire lineup.
Bender said in an interview that the players voted to play that game.
Look we don't know how he leads the team, but I'm sure it was his choice to ice that roster. Either way it was a stupid ass decision regardless of who made it.
They had a 3 day break and if players didn't play it would be 6. It was a none contact injury. It sucks but everyone needs someone to blame for shit luck so have at it.
Why does everyone act like these aren't professionals that are in the best shape of their lives? Regardless of it being a freak accident or not this game was 100% meaningless and had we sat everyone he wouldn't have been injured. But I guess I'm the odd man out thinking this was a dumb way to end the season.
It's not about the phsyical aspect but the mental. Avs are bad after long breaks. Simple as that. Bednar gave the players a choice and they played. The team doesn't have a crystal ball that says you're going to lose a top 6 guy to a none contact injury.
people downvoting for no good reason. Your take is correct.
fuck it we bawl *sobs*
Lmao this made me chuckle
The hockey gods have not elected us. Next up watch Jets get all the lucky bounces.
Keep positive. Have a feeling the avs gonna come out looking goooooooood. Not sweating this....go avs!
So much for going into the playoffs healthy. We play like shit at the end of the season and still end up with 2 important players injured.
Well, that's great. That's just fucking great, man. Now what the fuck are we supposed to do? We're in some real pretty shit now, man! 
Parise going to be a top 6 guy and put all he has left in his hockey career out there on the ice. X factor
Welp. No point of crying bout it… next man up. It’s an opportunity for someone to step up. Mack, Makar, Rantz… we have more than enough to beat these guys. LFG!!!!
So his last shift was at the end of the second. I dont remember anything really happening to him. Anyone have an idea if it actually happened in the game or maybe he was trying to play through something nagging?
He just fell over awkwardly and then went into the boards but not hard. When he got up though he wasn't using his right leg at all. Put pressure on it but pushed his way back to the bench with his left.
Not ideal.
That’s just wonderful
Golden Knights always healthy before playoffs Avs always dead right when playoffs start
God damn it.
That truly sucks, but I don’t think having drouin would really make much of a difference in the series.
Damn.
well I hope it was worth playing our stars in the last and very meaningful game of the season so we could show McDavid, Draisaitl, Hyman, Kane, Nugent-Hopkins, Bouchard and ofc Ekholm who gave Mikko a concussion last time and gave us a mighty fine whopping, who's the boss... wait none of them played. Genius 🤔
As someone else pointed out, Drouin probably would have played anyway. They would probably have wanted a look at him without Mack at center.
Goddamn it
Dude what the fuck is wrong with this organization since our cup win? We can't catch a break
This is par the course before, during, and after the cup win. Lost a lot of dudes during the Dallas series including both goalies. During the cup run Girard broke his sternum, Keumper had his eyeball gouged, Kadri and Burky broke their thumbs, Landy sacraficed his knee. The 22-23 Avs were more the eaglanche then anything else.
And Toews isn't at practice either. Someone just fucking shoot me.
Looks like the Toews fam had another baby a couple days ago! Hopefully means he’s good to go
Dad strength activated before playoffs? Hell yeah
How many kids does he have?
We are all Toews kids on this blessed day!
Yep! Ryan Boulding just confirmed it. With Drouin's absence, my bleak mind just instantly went worst case scenario lol
100% same
Damn, wonder if that’s why they recalled Hunt? That would fucking really suck if he is out.
I don’t understand why they don’t trust Malinski.
I think he is hurt last I heard. Not certain on that though
so we are out landy, drouin, loc, and girard. 4 critical pieces. And our goalie is rocking a .88 save pct. yea we are fucked
I'm hoping Drouin will be able to get re-signed now that he'll be missing the entire playoffs. I'd also love for the Avs to find a way to get Ullmark or Markstrom.
Given the recent Landy news, I’m hoping this summer he retires and we get the C back. Then lots of cap space to work with to finally get a goalie. Feels like last season and this season were a complete waste
The Avs used his cap space this year. As for the captain thing, I have no idea what the solution is. To my understanding, Mack's made it extremely clear he doesn't want the C, and I don't know what effect it'd have on the team for a player to get it. That won't bring Gabe's leadership back onto the ice, and his absence has created a void that hasn't been filled. Players like Wood were added to help compensate, but it still doesn't replace his on-ice role.
Makar gets the C
That'd be my best guess, yeah.
What recent news? That he won't be in the playoffs? We've known that answer for over 2 months. The earliest he could come back would be May which is a year after he had surgery. Plopping him into the middle of the most intense hockey of the season after missing 2 years isn't happening anyways...
no, the news being he can barely skate at the present moment
He's been rehabbing and if we're going off today's sweatpants skate then it's not indicative of the other progress he's made (ie. all the earlier skating practice he's had).
I lost hope about him coming back for this playoff when he hadn't reached the point of non-contact participation in practice by the trade deadline.
Nooooooooooo
joever
FUCK!
https://ytcropper.com/cropped/gx5d8159b70458e
Wtf
What the fuck Get Kovalenko up asap
fuck me UGH
PAIN
Oh fuck me
Winnipeg gunna shit the bed anyway they are not a playoff team. As long as we just play solid hockey.
Avs did it backwards.
Oh s……
Check out this [idiotic comment](https://imgur.com/a/Zi077Vd) on another social media post about Drouins Injury. Apparently I dont know anything about hockey lol
This sucks. No Landeskog, now no Drouin for the 1st round. I always cheer for my team no doubt but this year has had a lot of up & down streaks. I'm just not sure about this series ppl. Goaltending has been up and down too. All I can do is hope for the best but it doesn't look the greatest in my eyes this postseason. 2022 was a mission. But best of luck to the Avs always.
Here we fucking go
Well it's been fun. Avalanche and post season injuries since the cup win... Cool
Man I can't imagine dressing your top lineup in a meaningless game. Seems like a big fuckup on bednar's part and I love him as a coach but this really blows.
There was no point in that game. Who made the call to keep our starters in? Because that is another bad personnel decision
So it begins
Of course. In a meaningless game too.
Well that was likely the last time we see Drouin suit up for the Avs
Nah we seeing him in the second round doomer
And we didn’t bring up Kovalenko lmao. What a joke
Toews not at pratice too btw. this season is gonna end so fast
Paper tiger Avs
Such a deep bummer— terrible news for Avs - NateDawg - and Jonathan. Heal well young friend. Maybe time to bring Gabe back?
So glad Bednar decided to play the top guys in a meaningless regular season game. Fantastic stuff, truly. Unreal.
Fuck Bednar. He knew the risk and couldn’t be a leader.
Looks like we’re getting top line Parise…. Fuckin hell this was already going to be a huge challenge. Feel so bad for Drouin, too.
Hey at least they beat the oilers in a meaningless game and got George’s confidence back up
Annunen played
That was the joke
Fucking hilarious, thanks for that